Boris, Chavs and a Lord!

NervexProf

This provoked lots of responses from readers:
http://tinyurl.com/3x448r

I liked the response that commended cunning - like sticking a walking stick into the little blighters wheel!

Your solution, observations?

passout

I think the article is fair; adults shouldn't ignore the inappropriate actions of others - including kids. Admittidly the initial issues (cycling in a crowded pedestrian area) wasn't very serious but the old guy had a valid point. I do depart from Boris slightly when infers that society is going to the dogs - I think it has been like this for some time and isn't as bad as the press would have you believe. What worries me more however is the rise of serious crime, access to guns etc. These crimes are growing and need action even if most of us are unaffected. Because the police do have their hands full, I do wander if they are best used dealing with such minor incidents as outlined by the article. Zero tolerance is one thing but we are talking about naughty boys here - they needed a telling off, but more than that..?

I caught a couple kids breaking my windows once. It was a daily occurence so I filmed them, then caught them. I physically detained them in my kitchen and called the police (a PC neighbour more accurately). Scared the sh*t out of them - no more broken windows, or kids in the vicinity actually. You can restrain people including youths if you are careful not to harm them in anyway - this isn't as easy as it sounds. You can only do this however if you catch them red handed comitting a crime, suspicion is not enough.
So yes the kids are proctected by law but so are you and I. It's a case of knowing the Law and your rights, not just looking at theirs.

In short I think this guy had the right sentiments but didn't perhaps deal with it in the best way. He shouldn't have restrained the kids unless he actually saw them committing a crime. Appealing to their sense of reason or failing that a stern telling would have done.

OffTheBackAdam

passout wrote:

I Appealing to their sense of reason or failing that a stern telling would have done.

Unfortunately, there's no emoticon for "rolling about on the floor laughing whilst pissing oneself" :roll:
I can imagine this scenario...
Adult" Hey, you naughty boys, don't do that, you might ride into somebody"
Children "*&£% off you old *^&%, paedo, £$%^&*() )(*&^%, go £$%^ yourself"

passout

You don't know until you try - only a minority of kids are hooligans. The size of the minority does vary depending on where you live, granted.